9. DOKA MORIHEI UESHIBA 植芝盛平 道歌

TEN DOKA 道歌 ten music compositions for vocal and piano with flavor of Meiji 18681912 and Taishō 19121926 eras a time of a great transformation of Japan as a whole when Western influences spread widely in almost all layers of Japanese society. In these TEN DOKA tone colors of Japanese and Western music come closer together in a blend where they join each other in a very natural way creating a unique mixture. Morihei Ueshiba 植芝盛平 14.12.1883 26.04.1969 was one of the greatest Japanese budo masters of the 20th century. A visionary ahead of his time he developed a modern martial art AiKiDo that was based not on the Art of War but rather on the Art of Peace or as the Founder called it Spirit of Harmony. In his Doka 道歌 literally Songs of the Way in his Japanese tanka-poems through the beauty of its language and profound depth of expressions he exposes his view of human life and the connection between microcosm and macrocosm between a Man and a Universe. If you try to grasp the meaning of Doka purely intellectually you will eventually fail to truly appreciate their beauty. When you are hungry the description of the food will not still your hunger. Just as in this case you have to search for the meaning behind the words and symbols. Only a pure altruistic and loving heart not cold egocentric intellect would be able to penetrate the words and uncover the true meaning of these poems enter the Treasure Hall! Doka-poems of Morihei Ueshiba were originally published in the book The Secret Teachings of Aikidoby Kodansha USA in 2007 and 2012. All ten Doka were composed by me in 2017-2018 in Weimar Germany. These compositions are based on the mutual interference of stillness and sound where stillness is a canvas and the manifested sounds are the strokes of the brush just like in calligraphy shodo. Also each of these compositions can be seen as representation of seven characteristics of Buddhist Japanese art these are: 1 Asymmetry 不均整 fukinsei 2 Simplicity 簡素 kanso 3 Austere Sublimity or Lofty Dryness 渋味 shibuishibumi 4 Naturalness 自然 shizen 5 Subtle Profundity or Deep Reserve 幽玄 yūgen 6 Freedom from Attachment 脱俗 datsuzoku 7 Tranquility 静寂 seijaku I strongly believe that the true purpose of art and music in general is to touch the deepest levels of human beings their hearts and minds to purify them to elevate them from the animal state to the state of enlightenment seeing ones own nature. I poured all my heart and soul into these ten compositions and truly hope that these beautiful poems of Morihei Ueshiba combined with my music will resonate in your being just as powerful as in mine. Thank You! ありがとうございます Sergey Dunaev composition vocal Nao Aiba 相羽なお piano concert grandpiano C.Bechstein OUR GRATITUDE goes to following persons without whom this project will not be possible: PETER GESANG and Medicom Music Label Weimar ANNE-CHRISTIN DELAKOWITZ GÜNTER MUNA NEUMANN Special thanks to UESHIBA Family and Aikikai Foundation. All rights reserved! This is a NON-commercial project.,

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